There are three distinguished in fierceness: Israel among the nations, the dog among animals, and the cock among birds. —Rabbi Simeon, Tractate Bezah 25b, Babylonian Talmud (Quincentenary ed.), Soncino Pr.

Where is it possible to find a group of Jews who are committed to Israel, and whose children are likely to honor that commitment? The answer is, in a synagogue on the Sabbath. —Elliott Abrams, "Can Jews Survive?"

It is a fact that the Jewish religion is above all Jewish nationalism ... One must be a Jew first and a human being second. —Moses Hess, Rome and Jerusalem, as quoted in The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time by Moshe Menuhin.

Why, then, does truth generate hatred ... unless it be that truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else besides her wish that to be the truth which they do love. ... Therefore, they hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love in place of the truth. —Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Bk. X, Ch. XXIII, 34)

FARMINGTON HILLS -- The Holocaust Memorial Center this week canceled a Feb. 26 appearance by a Michigan State University professor after Muslims expressed concerns that Indrek Wichman and the group that was sponsoring his appearance, The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom, are intolerant of Islam.

The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom have sponsored campus events such as "Koran Desecration Day," a contest in which students were asked to hunt down illegal immigrants and an initiative that urged the giving of "blankets infected with small pox" to Native American students.

The organization -- which is sanctioned by the university as a student activity, although it is listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Law Poverty Center -- also sponsored a trip to the United States by a nationalist British politician who has publicly denied the Holocaust.

At the event in the Holocaust Memorial Center, Wichman was to speak on the topic of Muslims and free speech.

"At the beginning, I'm sure we did not know all that this was about," said Gail Cohen, a coordinator at the Holocaust Memorial Center.

PM: Oh my, yes, I'm sure you just never, ever suspected that a talk sponsored by the thoroughly racist Zionist Organization of America and YAF on "Muslims and free speech" would be about bashing Islam. I mean, who would have thunk it?

"When we found out what kind of group it was, we said, 'No, no, no!' "

Cohen said that Mark Siegel, of the Zionist Organization of America, brought the Young Americans for Freedom event to the Holocaust Memorial Center. Repeated attempts to reach Siegel were unsuccessful.

Wichman, was not available for comment. Kyle Bristow, chairman of the MSU Young American for Freedom did not return phone calls.

"We welcome the Holocaust Memorial Center's decision not to sponsor anti-Muslim bigotry at a location that symbolizes the grave consequences of hatred and intolerance," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan.